21 People Have Died In ICE Custody This Year, The Highest Annual Death Toll Since 2005

The number of deaths in Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s custody has seen a drastic spike this year.

Immigrants rights advocates are calling for action after 21 people died in ICE custody during the 2020 fiscal year, according to a CNN tally of data released by the agency. That’s more than double the number of deaths in 2019 and the highest annual death toll since 2005. Even more troubling is that over a third of the people who died while in custody this year tested positive for COVID-19.

Advocates attribute the deaths to deteriorating conditions in the facilities, medical care problems, and ICE’s poor management of the pandemic.

“We’re seeing the pandemic is playing a role — but also the conditions of detention, and what it does both to your mental health and the really poor medical care that exists inside,” said Silky Shah, executive director of Detention Watch Network, the national initiative to abolish immigration detention in the United States. “As we’re looking at this death toll going up, what it tells us is … it’s a system that shouldn’t exist. People should be with their loved ones, with their families, being able to social distance and quarantine at home going through their immigration proceedings. They shouldn’t be locked up.”

ICE has responded to the rising COVID-19 deaths by reducing its detention centers’ population to 75% capacity or less. As of September 25th, there were 19,791 people in ICE custody, which is a sharp decrease from its 50,165 inmates at the same time last year. 900 inmates were also released at the beginning of the pandemic. Despite cutting down on the amount of people in custody, there have still been more than 6,100 confirmed coronavirus cases among ICE detainees since the start of the outbreak.

While they may be addressing the coronavirus spread within the facilities, ICE still faces criticism for their poor medical care of inmates. Recent allegations of forced hysterectomies on female detainees have also shined a spotlight on the aggressive organization.

Last week, a congressional investigation of ICE facilities unveiled widespread failures in medical care, including several shortcomings that resulted in death. However, ICE slammed the House Oversight Committee’s investigation, calling it a “one-sided review…done to tarnish” the agency’s credibility.

“Statistically, fatalities in ICE custody occur at a small fraction of the national average for detained populations in federal or state custody — less than 1% of the rate at which fatalities occur in federal and state custody nationwide,” ICE said following the investigation.

Amilcar Valencia, a former ICE detainee and executive director of El Refugio Ministry, regularly speaks with people detained at Stewart Detention Center in Lumpkin, Georgia, which has been the site of three coronavirus deaths.

“They say how fearful they are for their safety and health inside of the facility … That’s a common thing that comes up in every letter that we get,” Valencia said.